Chapter 3.11: Teamplay

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From Leo's diary

Orion: (to himself) How did this stuff reach the drains too?

This was only the last weird event reminding us that the destruction of that giant plant in the lab was of absolute priority for the safety of everyone in town, its vines were slowly invading everything. 

We had to hurry up, and get rid of it once and for all.


Orion: How are the calculations going?
Silas: (focused) On the basis of the volume of herbicide available, the flow rate of the dispensers and the size of the plant in question, I believe we will need at least four people.
Orion: (thoughtfully) Then we must find another person...
Silas: Do you already someone in mind already?
Orion: Maybe.

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Celine: Well, could someone update me on what's going on in here? Those clouds look terrible!
Leo: I think those two will be able to explain everything better than I would.


Orion: Well, in a nutshell...

So, in no time, Orion and Silas explained to our cousin Celine what the situation was. She volunteered to help us out before we even told her we needed a fourth person, I have to admit that I'm quite impressed with her.

So we gave her the antidote against the neurotoxin too, and went back to the lab again.


Celine: This place is definitely bigger than the bunker-lab you had on Sixam. Spores explosions aside, how are you doing?
Orion: Until two weeks ago, we were having a tremendous time here.
Silas: Um um...
Celine: But now hurry up, that plant had been around for way too long already!

To her stern command everyone immediately returned back to work. That scene definitively reminded me how she actually was one of the founders of the rebels groups Orion and Silas belong to.

So we quick retrieved gigantic dispensers, monstrous quantities of herbicide and returned to that giant and scary plant.


Leo: The plan is simply to cover her with herbicide as quickly as possible, right?
Silas: Right.
Celine: This plant is even worse than I though, just hurry up!





Orion: Well, that really is a tough plant...


We had to use every last drop of herbicide, but eventually...




Celine: Great!


Silas: Could you explain to them that the plant is gone? Or just throw them some antidote, it's the same!


Leo: What are you going to do with it now?
Orion: We have to get some lymph out of it, find the active compound we need, and then we can burn the rest.
Leo: But what's the active compound for?
Silas: It was the basis of most of Sixam's medications, it treats all infectious diseases from measels to pneumonia.
Leo: Oh.

Those two had probably noticed my puzzled expression at that point, because they immediately specified:

Orion: We just need one molecule to analyze, then with the matter recomposer we can synthesize as much as we want without having to grow any other of those abominable plants ever again.
Leo: (relieved) Thank goodness…


Silas: Rather, did you  eventually find any clues useful for your investigation?
Leo: (vague) … Not exactly, this seems to have been a big dead end. But I think to have a strong suspect about the culprit of this accident, at least..



Conspiracy Theorist: Welcome to the Curio shop, how can i help you?


Leo: Good morning, I have some questions to ask you. Where were you on the morning of December 5th?
Conspiracy Theorist: What? Um, I don't remember exactly...

I found only one clue in the whole lab: one of those awful badges sold in this place, suspiciously similar to the empty spot on this guy's vest. Also, who else could have had any gain by causing the panic among the population with an accident like this one? The number of conspiracy theorists in town increased exponentially during the last few weeks and those weird tourists were all buying garbage from his stand, objectively the only person who gained money from this absurb situation was him.

This would also explain why he knew so many details and was willing to sell us impossible-to-find items like the key to the labs or the anti-contamination suits, he took us for any conspiracy theorists who wanted to investigate the incident for fun.

So I had warned the agents of the local police station, who in that moment were waiting patiently a few steps behind me. So I just had to pull out my badge and tell him:


Leo: You're under arrest for causing the accident in the laboratories and endangering the safety of the local population.
Conspiracy Theorist: ... how did found it out?

He wasn't the idiot but harmless guy he seemed to be at first sight, after all...



Silas: I still find it hard to believe that it was that guy's fault, he didn't seem smart enough to plot such a plan...
Orion: I have to admit I'm surprised too.
Leo: Well, that was my job after all. What about you guys instead, can you return back to your normal experiments?
Silas: (tired) Not really... We still have to tidy up the labs, get rid of the giant plant safely, administer the antidote to all the people who live within a radius of twenty kilometers from here, measure the residual concentration of spores in the air, destroy the remaining plans which have been spawning all over the place...
Orion: (tired) A a lot of stuff, in short. But I don't want to hear about any of this at least until tomorrow.
Silas: Definitely…
Orion: You're going back to your family tonight instead, aren't you?
Leo: Yes.


The more time passed, the more I realized I was just being the annoying third wheel of the situation. Evidently, once the emergency was over, those two just wanted to take some time to clarify after the arguments they had.
For me it was clearly time to say goodbye, but not before reminding them:

Leo: Come to visit us whenever you want, okay?
Orion: … Um, sure.

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From Orion's diary


Silas: …
Orion: …

We had left so many unspoken things these days, but neither of us knew where to start from. Silas also took off the necklace I gave him years ago, I was really afraid that he was about to dump me this time...

Silas: ... I guess I should apologize, I shouldn't have made a scene in such a situation.
Orion: Uhm.
Silas: I mean, you were sick from spore contamination and everything, that wasn't the time to talk about it.

The room fell silent again, it was my turn to speak. I still didn't know where to start from, but if he was mature enough to start talking with an apology, I at least had to be brave enough to face the topic we have been avoiding for a while, isn't it?


Orion: Well, now we have plenty of time for talking about it. So, what's up?
Silas: Honestly?
Orion: Yes.
Silas: (tired) The point is that I can't stand this situation any longer. I mean, I thought it'd be better once we got back to Earth, I wanted to introduce you to my family, find a decent home, stuff like that. Instead we ended up in this tiny trailer and we kept working day and night in that lab, and it's just one emergency after the other... It's even worse than living on Sixam, as far as I'm concerned.
Orion:…
Silas: (embittered) But you seem to be enjoying this lifestyle instead, don't you?

At certain moments I really feel like a complete idiot, how could I not have understood it before? Living on Sixam had been hard for us all, we have worked so hard over there to lose focus on almost anything else. And also once we made it back to Earth and started to work in those new labs opened by the Sim City's government, we just weren't given the time for realizing what was going on before ending up stuck in that miniature trailer for dealing with that absurd accident.

I've known him for such a long time at this point, and I know perfectly that for him life on Sixam has been even harder than for me. I'm such an idiot, how could I not realize what the problem was?


Orion: Well, being the crazy scientist on Sixam can be fun for a while, but after so much time I'm getting tired of it too.
Silas: Uhm.
Orion: As usual you are right, you know? We should at least look for a real house now that we are back on Earth.
Silas: Are you serious?
Orion: Yes. And I also think that we should tell Celine and the others to go screw themselves, we can't keep dealing with impossible tasks every day and forever!

Silas was right also on this point. We were working so much on Sixam, but at least we had the satisfaction of seeing that old Sixam technology returning back to life. We made many sacrifices, but restoring the teleport system, the matter recomposer, or translating the old Sixam language into Simlish, were all achievements we were very proud of.

But that new lab in the middle of the Strangerville desert was all another story, in particular since when if passed under the control of the hateful Ministry of Defense and those idiots who keep getting the credits for our work. Well, they could all go screw themselves for good, life is too short to be wasted in such a way.


Orion: So, do you think you can bear me for a while longer?

He thought about it for a moment before answering me, as usual, but he was already smiling. I hadn't seen him do it for a long time. Seeing him this way, and realising that we deserved to slow down a bit and enjoy our lives too after such difficult weeks, it was so relieving...

Silas: (reassured) I missed talking to you like that, you know?
Orion: Me too.


Well, my dear diary, you know writing about my life is not my strong point. I think I've written more than enough already, I'm sure you can guess the rest by yourself. 


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§HermioneSims§ corner:
Well well well, this is the end of this brief Strangerville parenthesis! All the neighbour mystery was quite challenging, but even more so was writing about Orion and Silas after leaving them in the background for so long... 

Actually, I think it's a real pity that two interesting characters like them ended to be so marginal in this story, they are among my favourite characters of the whole legacy. This is probably why I had decided to write a couple of short stories about them, using the last two entries for the MSSSC for the purpose. So, if you are interested to know more about them and their past, I suggest you to also read the short story Double faces, which focuses on Silas's past, and the Diaries of the Sixam's days, which instead focuses on the life in the Sixam's labs. I have also a third and last short story in mind for them, I just have to decide when and how to write it...

MSSSC: Diary of the Sixam's days


Hi everyone! Here is my entry for the MSSSC for June/July 2022. You can find the challenge details in the related blog entry and forum thread. This time the topic is free, and the challenge focuses on writing in a diary format and in the first person.
Very conveniently, my whole legacy is written as a diary, and thus I decided to write another side story to my main writing project. So that the topic was totally free, I actually decided to write a continuation of my previous entry, with the difference that the narrator won't be Silas anymore, but the blue alien he met at the end of the last entry. If any of the readers of this short story is also following my Miller Legacy, be aware that there may be serious spoilers if you haven't reached chapter 3.10 yet. 

Diary of the Sixam's days

Year 5, day 453



My dear diary, it is still so weird to actually write this down! It was my brother the one who was always writing his diary, not me, but I need to vent out a bit. 

I mean, I do like my job, and I think it is important to save all that incredible old Sixam technology. Yet, this place is driving me crazy.


Imagine living in a four-room underground bunker with other six to ten people, unable to go out for whole weeks because of the recurring snow blizzards, for years over years. 

Unsurprisingly, we tend to focus on work for insane amounts of time. Now I'm working on a machine called "matter recomposer" which, as the name suggests, is able to recombine atoms in the matter to create new objects.


I'm finally starting to grasp the basics, after weeks of trials and errors. The instructions for all these machines are written in a very obscure old Sixam language, and so we are obliged to proceed with this frustrating slow pace. But that's unavoidable, the decoding of that language is just out of our league.

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Year 5, day 472

The morale at the base is quite low these days, but the prize for the grumpiest person in here goes to the new guy, Silas. 


Unlike anyone else, he did study a lot before coming here. And he's not afraid of challenges either, as he immediately decided to resume the Sixam language decoding project. 

I'm not doing great either, the matter recomposer has started to rebel against me.



Well, I know when it's time for a break, and Silas seemed to need one too.


Considering that we were stuck in the bunker because of the snowstorm season, we ended up playing videogames. 


-We are just wasting time, you know?-, he kept telling me. Clearly, being stuck on his work is his insanity trigger in this crazy place. 


And he is also surprisingly good at videogames. Admittedly, I could have had to cheat a bit to win.




-You're such an idiot, Orion-, he kept telling me, smiling. Yet, today we decided to join forces and work together. 

This information must remain hidden in this diary, but I really think he is a nice guy, I sort of like him.

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Year 6, day 10


By working together we were progressing much faster than before on both our projects. 
Today, finally, I managed to obtain a real object from that stupid matter recomposer and, without thinking, I just gave it to Silas.


He seemed very impressed, before teasing me by asking: -Is it a toroid with a very small radius, or did you just give me a ring?- 

I didn't really expect that question, it was probably the first time he saw me speechless. Yet, a very eloquent pinkish glow made him quickly understand what was going through my mind


At that point, we didn't feel the need to say anything else and just kissed for the first time.


We’ve been teasing each other for a while, yet I really wasn't expecting this outcome this morning. Not that I'm complaining, all the opposite.

----------------------------------------------------
14/06/2127 (terrestrial calendar)


Today we are moving to our new house, and I found this old diary at the bottom of a box. A lot has happened since my last notes, but I’ve better things to do than writing it all.


Just be aware that we are having a tremendous time and we can forget about that horrible miniature bunker on Sixam. That said, auf wiedersehen my dear diary, see you never again!



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Words: 599 (If it had been up to me, it would be 3-4 times longer, I really struggled to keep it within 600 this time!)
Pictures: 20

If you are curious to read more about these two guys, I suggest you to give also a look at this chapter from my Legacy. 

Chapter 3.10: Antidote

 <-- Previous Chapter

From Leo's diary

We didn't have the time to see well that plant, as we just run out of that room as fast as we could to reach a safe place. Luckily it didn't seem able to leave the room it was placed in, so we could remain in the lab to rearrange our ideas. 

I definitively didn't expect to meet a giant alien plant willing to attack us, what on Earth happened in that place?


Demonstrating remarkable self-control skills, Silas immediately set to work on an antidote for the neurotoxic spores, still wearing one of those very uncomfortable protective suits. “The plant seems blocked into that room, but we have to solve the intoxication problem before we can take care of it", he said.

He wasn't sure which composition was the best, so he had meticulously prepared various formulations to test on a few "volunteers" among the people contaminated by the spores.

Meanwhile, I was looking for clues around the rest of the lab. At that point, it seemed likely that someone among the drug dealers I'm investigating on sneaked into this place, and did something that turned a Sixam plant into that giant monstrosity and scattered its spores and seeds all over the place. But who would ever do something like this? And why?


Leo: Orion, can you do something too, by chance?
Orion: From here I see the lab perfectly.
Leo: If this is the case... Do ​​you think there is something out of place?
Orion: Apart from the giant plant, everything seems to me as we left it.
Leo: (frustrated) You could plan a bit safer experiments though, what the heck is that stuff?
Orion: Hey, my experiment is the one on that table down there. Do you think it's dangerous?


Well, dangerous is not the first adjective I would think of, he's not wrong...

In any case, once the syntheses of the antidotes to be tested ended, we returned to Orion and Silas's trailer, waiting for Orion's symptoms to manifest. I guess it would be useless to specify that he immediately proposed as a volunteer for the antidote test, am I wrong, my dear diary?


Leo: Those clouds still look very worrisome...
Silas: (tired) We can't afford to waste any more time, let's go in.


Orion: (Pragmatic) What should we do with that plant, then? Flood it with herbicide?
Silas: Do you think you still have enough in the warehouse?
Orion: I think so, you know?
Silas: Then we should do some calculations, to optimise the...
Orion:…


I get caught off guard every time Orion experiences the neurological effects of those spores. Silas instead always managed to keep the focus on what needs to be done, and shouted to me:

Silas: Now, give him the antidote!


Leo: (Worried) Ehi, how are you doing?
Orion: safasdeghyksfss... that's not the way to administer an antidote, you know?

At least it seemed to work, what a relief...

Similarly, we also administered the serum to a couple of other contaminated people passing by.



Someone experienced a few side effects, but they all eventually woke up. 



???: What the... Hei, I'm feeling so much better! Thank you!

We soon had enough data to determine which antidote was the most effective. Well, to be honest Silas had, I was just doing what he said to. So I followed him when he decided to take a dose of the antidote too, to avoid any future contamination.

Arrived to that point, we could focus on that last and giant obstacle which separated us from the end of the emergency operation in Strangerville. We had to get rid of that giant plant and, for doing so, we needed a plan.


Leo: Hello, Claire? Yes, the situation here is a bit complicated, but let's say we managed to pinpoint the problem, I think. When I get back I'll explain, don't worry. Also say hello to Luke and Lyra when they wake up, please!

I was making my usual phone call at home, I'm really starting to miss them, when Orion sat down beside me thoughtfully.


Leo: What's going on, Orion?


Orion: I just wanted to tell you that, em... Well, that you are not obliged to participate, in the destruction of that giant plant.
Leo: ...
Orion: I mean, that thing shouldn't be so dangerous, its main defence weapon is those neurotoxic spores that, with that antidote, shouldn't hurt us anymore.
Leo: How about those tentacles wiggling all over the place then?
Orion: It's mostly to scare us, but it should be easy to avoid them. If we keep at least four meters away, it shouldn't be able to reach anyone. It is just a plant after all, it doesn't have a brain.
Leo: ...
Orion: However, you saw the situation in here... I mean, I can't assure you that there won't be any other unexpected issues suddenly showing up.
Leo: I thought so.
Orion: In short, you have a family waiting for you at home. Maybe you shouldn't risk so much in here, you know?

I couldn't deny that I thought about it too. But I was still a policeman, it was my duty to help people. Also, what assured me that those spores couldn't reach my home too, if we didn't stop them right away? And then...

Leo: Don't be silly, you are family too.


Orion answered me hinting to a smile, but he also continued to play with his necklace with a thoughtful expression I saw on his face way too often in the last few days. He continued to seem terribly proven by the situation, I had never seen him like this. 

Knowing him, I found it hard to believe he was just scared about the plant, it was not like him. In fact, looking at him better, more than worried and exhausted he seemed… sad.

In the last few days, I noticed that he had started to play more and more often with that necklace that he always wore. Thinking about it was something I also saw Silas doing, at some point.

Leo: What do your necklaces mean?
Orion: Well, it's a long story...

That vague answer was probably meant to avoid the topic, but it had the effect of making me think better about what I observed in the last few days and which I ignored to focus on work. My brother and Silas lived together and, in the first days I spent here, they often seem to joke together. They seemed quite close-knit, so to speak.

But the more the days passed, the more I had seen them drift away, their way of speaking became much colder and, by now, they are only talking about calculations, formulas and equipment needed to restore the peace in that weird little town. Thinking about it, I had them arguing more than once, and at a certain point Silas even stopped wearing that necklace that seemed so important to them.

With all this evidence, I would not even need to be a detective to realize that...

Leo: Silas and you are in a relationship, isn't it?

My brother stared at me in surprise for a few moments before anwering, he probably didn't expect me to notice.

Orion: (cautiously) Well... sort of.
Leo: Did you have an argument? That’s why you’re like this, isn't it?
Orion: ...
Leo: So...

At that point Orion probably had enough time to realize that he didn't want to talk to me about that topic. He had never been good at opening up and talking about his feelings, thinking about it. So, he decided to just change the topic of the conversation:

Orion: We have more urgent things to think about, don't you think?

Well, probably he's not wrong, we need to get rid of that plant as soon as possible. We will have the time for solving the rest afterwards, I guess.